Psychodynamic approach

• What is the psychodynamic approach

  This approach to psychology focuses on the internal , unconscious mental forces that individuals are largely unaware of , but drive emotions and actions ( e.g ig ego superego )
• Assumptions of psychodynamic approach

  1. Most of the influences on our mind come from the UNCONSCIOUS MIND
  2. conflict in psyche ( made up of several parts that are continually at war with each other ) drives behaviour
  3. children go through a series of psychosexual stages and if they experience unresolved conflict —> adult life is affected
• 3 parts of the psyche

  ID , EGO , SUPEREGO
• What is id ?

  pleasure principle

  • the primitive part of our personality , it’s SELFISH and demands immediate gratification
• What is the SUPEREGO

  MORALITY PRINCIPLE - represents ideal self , makes you aware what is wrong and what’s right —> causes you to feel guilt
• What is the ego ?

  Reality principle - mediator between ID and SUPEREGO , tries to reduce conflict through use of defence mechanisms
• Which components of the psyche are part of your unconscious

  ID and superego
• Defence mechanism 


  Unconscious strategies used by the EGO to help balance conflicting demands of the Id and Superego
• 3 main types of defence mechanism

  DENIAL , REPRESSION , DISPLACEMENT

  Denial - refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality

  repression - forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind

  displacement - transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion into a substitute target
• 5 psychosexual stages

  1. Oral (0-1 years )
  2. Anal (1-3 years )
  3. phallic (3-5 years )
  4. latency (5 years to puberty )
  5. genital (puberty to death )
• Conflict and consequences of conflict not being resolved in the oral stage

  Conflicts - forceful feeding , deprivation or early weaning

  consequences of fixation - oral fixation = smoking , chewing pens and fingernails , overeating and drinking , sarcasm and verbal hostility
• Conflict and consequences of conflict not being resolved in The Anal stage

  Conflicts - too harsh or too lax during toilet training

  consequences of fixation - too harsh toilet training = anay retentive personality —> obsessive , tidy , neat .

  too lax toilet training —> sloppiness , disorganised , defiant , reckless , excessive generosity
• Conflict and consequences of conflict on being resolved in the phallic stage

  Conflicts - abnormal family set up leading to unusual relationship with mother and father

  Consequences of fixation - phallic personality —> narcissistic , reckless and possibly homosexual
• Conflict and consequences of conflict on being resolved in the latency stage

  Conflicts - interactive with same sex peers

  no fixation during this stage
• Conflict and consequences of conflict on being resolved in the genital stage

  Conflicts - estsblidhing intimate relationship with opposite sex

  consequences of fixation - fixation at this stage is what shoudl happen and indicates a well adjusted adult
• what stages does OEDIPUS and ELECTRA COMPLX occur 


  The phallic stage
• What gender does Oedipus and electra complex happen in ?

  Oedipus complex - MALES

  electra complex - FEMALES
• What is the Oedipus complex

  Boys develops sexual desire for their mother and see their father as a rival —> feel hatred towards father

  fearing their father will castrate them , boys repress their feelings for their mother and identify with their father

  they take on his gender roles and moral values
• What is the Electra complex

  Girls experience PENIS ENVY

  • desire their father as the pen is is the primary love object —> hate their mother
  • girls give up the desire for their father over time and replace this with a desire for a baby ( identifying with their mother in the process)
• Case study which shows support fo the Oedipus complex 


  Little hans —> had a severe phobia of white horses with black bits around their mouth and wearing blinkers

  —> sigmund Freud interpreted this phobia as a form of displacement in which his repressed fear of his father was transformed onto horses